Two K-Pax-branded semi trucks driven by Bob Raub and son Dax pull onto the concrete of Detroit's Belle Isle street course. Loaded inside are three all-wheel-drive VolvoS60 World Challenge race cars with turbocharged five-cylinder engines making more than 500 hp. The cars were built by 3R racing, Raub's company. Raub and K-Pax owner Jim Haughey joined forces in 2006 when Haughey was looking for a team to support the K-Pax Porsches and develop the Volvos.

After a slow tour of the north end of the track, the trucks arrive at a narrow exit leading to the Pirelli World Challenge GT-class paddock. Two Volvos are unloaded by a team of 10 men and the unflappable Holly Raub. Holly is Bob's wife and the den mother of the group. She takes care of everything from feeding the crew and getting them to the pits on time, to wrangling drivers and communicating with the race organizers when a journalist needs a favor.

Thursday, May 31. 3:30 p.m. 47 hours 30 minutes until the race

It's time for media rides, and K-Pax is the first team on the list. After the passenger seat is installed in Alex Figge's No. 9 car, we don our helmets and slide into the car. “I've never been on this course, and the car is cold,” Figge says. He spends the last few seconds before we take off looking over the official media pass, which has a track map on the back.

Once under way, all we can feel are the massive lateral g's produced as the World Challenge car gets through the first few turns. It's slick and the tires are cold, and even though the pavement is dry, Figge is doing all he can to keep the car centered on the narrow course. Making a right onto the back straight, we bang through all six gears in the sequential transmission. The power comes on like a wave and forces your innards to the back of your rib cage for what seems like a full 10 seconds. Next it's hard on the brakes for a tight right-hander where you drop from about 130 mph to about 40 mph. After three laps and about four minutes we pull into the pits, a bit woozier than when we entered.

The Volvo S60 street car is no slouch, either. We find that out later after hot shoe and Figge teammate Randy Pobst gets behind the wheel.

Friday, June 1. 8 a.m. 30 hours, 30 minutes until the race

The World Challenge series is scheduled to practice for 20 minutes. It's raining and chilly in the Motor City. The series is broken up into two classes, GT and, for less powerful cars, GTS. The K-Pax team hasn't run much in the rain. Weather wasn't expected for the races on Saturday and Sunday, so the cars pass on the short session. Later, Figge and Pobst take to the track in the second session without incident. Pobst loves the way his No. 6 is driving, while Figge's car needs some tweaking.

Saturday, June 2. 10:15 a.m. Four hours, 45 minutes until the race

Qualifying begins for the GT class and the K-Pax team. Pobst is fast—really fast. Sitting on the pole and beating two evil-sounding Cadillacs driven by crafty veterans Andy Pilgrim and Johnny O'Connell, Pobst is calm, cordial and funny. You might think that's his I-just-qualified-on-pole demeanor, but as we'd find out later, he's always like that.

Figge qualifies fifth, just more than a second slower than Pobst. Figge's car needs more tweaking, and he talks to the mechanics and engineers in a driver's language. They respond in their own language, but everyone seems to understand each other.

The activity never stops in the two Volvo tents. Whether the cars seem to be set up perfectly for the day, or imperfectly, the crew's work is never finished. Brakes need to be checked, suspensions need to be adjusted, data needs to be acquired and analyzed back in the semi. When things are going good, it's a 60-hour, three-day event. When they aren't, it's more.

Saturday, June 2. 3:05 p.m. Race No. 1

We're in the pits before the first World Challenge race of the weekend. There are 38 cars on the grid in two classes with entries ranging from the Porsche 911 GT3 driven by Lawson Aschenbach to the Kia Optima of Michael Galati. Pobst is on the pole; Figge starts fifth. Lights, camera, action!

Pobst's car doesn't move. The Cadillacs roar off as Figge and Aschenbach dodge the No. 6 Volvo. Thirty more cars clear Pobst, but one doesn't—a Nissan 370Z piloted by Robert Stout plows into the back of the Volvo. A tire bounces away from the car's crushed rear as Pobst slides towards the wall. A Mitsubishi Evo gets swept into the mess and the race goes to caution.

Months of off-season work. Two weeks of preparation after a great finish at Laguna Seca. All of it smashed in less than five seconds. Pobst exits the car under his own power to the relieved looks of the team and his girlfriend, Jennifer. As if on cue Pobst says, “Good thing it was a Volvo,” wearing a sheepish grin as he walks toward the team. He makes a twisting motion to the crew with his hands saying—in a language they both understand—something twisted apart.

Still, Pobst is smiling, even as he apologizes for letting the car get hit. “We almost made it,” he says, “we missed about 30 of 'em!”

Pobst explains that when the car didn't move, he checked a few more gears, just to make sure it was stuck. “After that, I was just trying to think small,” Pobst says, getting a hug from his girlfriend.

Figge finishes the in fourth place, with the fifth-fastest lap. That's good enough to put him in the third row on Sunday's grid.

Fortunately for Pobst, there's a spare chassis in the truck, though it's halfway across the island and needs to be pushed to the paddock. The crew immediately gets to work, and that's when they begin shine the brightest. The importance of their contribution to the weekend cannot be overstated. Bob and Holly oversee everything. Will, Dax, Majiej, Cos, Brian, Jeff, Owen and Donovan work through the night building a new car, nearly from scratch.

Sunday, June 3. 10 a.m. Two hours until the race

When the crowds arrive at Detroit's Belle Isle a new No. 6 car is running in the paddock, having already set the three fastest lap times in practice. Pobst is again calm, cordial and funny. His girlfriend, Jennifer, says that she didn't want to watch the practice from the pits, so she stood by a turn. Pobst lets her know that he saw her and waved while muscling the car around the track. Jennifer was not amused. The K-Pax team is tired but wired and ready for the race. Pobst is starting last because if the previous day's result, but he says he's ready to give us a better show.

Sunday, June 3. Noon. Race No. 2

The race goes off, and Figge's No. jumps into third place. He'd stay there for the rest of the contest. Though the Volvos can take the turns faster, winner O'Connell and the Porsche of Aschenbach are too strong on the straights. Pobst moves up six positions from the back of the pack. He's running great until the power steering goes out during lap six. “I've never been so happy to see a yellow flag,” says a smiling Pobst while shaking the fatigue from his arms after his fight with the wheel.

Figge crosses the line in third, taking a podium spot and adding to his points total. He credits the crew for listening to him and making his car better after each time out on the track. It isn't the best possible result, but the team seems generally contented.

Sunday, June 3. 1:30 p.m. Post race

After the race, the World Challenge leaves as quickly as it arrived. Only K-Pax stays, sorting through parts and cleaning up after a long rebuild. The wired feeling has worn off, and the engineers and mechanics just look tired.

Next, the circus moves to Toronto for the second double-header in three weeks. After that it's Mid-Ohio and the season ender at the Sonoma Raceway, formerly known as Infineon. Pobst and Figge sit in fourth and fifth places, respectively. They're several hundred points from the lead, but a good race weekend or two can change that.

Racing in any form is a minute-by-minute roller coaster. Sometimes you're on the pole, sometimes you're at the back of the pack. The key, as this journalist sees it, is being able to step back and appreciate the entirety of it all. Seeing each of the parts work together as a cohesive unit is like watching the best reality show ever. You understand how it starts, and where it ends, but all of that stuff in the middle, that's where the action happens.